Weather report: Mild and dry in the Midwest

In the West, precipitation is returning to the northern Pacific Coast. Elsewhere, dry weather favors fieldwork, but cool conditions are slowing crop growth.

On the Plains, scattered showers and thunderstorms are benefiting pastures, summer crops, and immature winter wheat, although some areas remain very dry. Across the southern half of the region, the rain is causing minor winter wheat harvest disruptions.

In the Corn Belt, showers are confined to westernmost portions of the region, including parts of Minnesota and eastern North Dakota. Elsewhere in the Midwest, mild, dry weather is maintaining concerns about diminishing topsoil moisture reserves.

In the South, showers are confined to the southern Atlantic region, where soil moisture for pastures and summer crops has improved in recent weeks. However, extremely dry conditions persist in several parts of the region, particularly in the Mid-South.

Outlook: Across the eastern half of the U.S., a cool weather pattern will be replaced by above-normal temperatures during the weekend. Meanwhile, a reinforcing surge of cool air will arrive in the West. During the next several days, most of the significant precipitation will occur in the Deep South and across the nation’s northern tier. Five-day rainfall totals could exceed 3 inches along the Gulf Coast and may top an inch from the Pacific Northwest into the upper Great Lakes region. In contrast, dry weather will prevail in the Southwest, while only light showers will occur in the Midwest. The NWS 6- to 10-day outlook for June 12-16 calls for near- to above-normal temperatures and rainfall across much of the U.S. Cooler-than-normal conditions will be confined to the southern Atlantic region and the Pacific Northwest, while drier-than-normal weather will be limited to the Rio Grande Valley and parts of the West.